Ben Folds Five

thumb|Ben Folds Five's self-titled debut album
Ben Folds Five (1994–2000) was a three-member band formed in Chapel Hill, North Carolina who were a mainstay of piano rock until their breakup in 2000. Much of their work was influenced by jazz, evident in frequent improv-styled passages through bridge and/or ending.

Ben Folds was lead singer, pianist, and main composer; Robert Sledge played bass, and Darren Jessee played drums and co-wrote some of the songs. Sledge and Jessee also delivered backup vocals. Their first radio single was "Underground" from their self-titled debut album, but their biggest success was the single "Brick" from their second album in 1998, a ballad which Folds later revealed was written about an experience with a high school girlfriend having an abortion.

After the band's reportedly amicable breakup in October 2000, Folds began a moderately successful solo career, Robert Sledge took up singing and bass playing duties with International Orange (which broke up in 2005), and Darren Jessee now fronts the band Hotel Lights.

Folds once described their music as "punk rock for sissies", a reac...